Fired From An Accident

Topic 27368 | Page 1

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Michael S.'s Comment
member avatar

I was fired from an accident. What are my options because most places tell me they can't hire me for insurance purposes. I live in the Dayton, OH area and need help rebuilding my safe driving record after this accidents. Things happen and now I need solutions. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Old School's Comment
member avatar

Michael, you're in a tough spot, but if nobody could ever get hired again after an accident there would be a lot of new drivers unable to work again. You didn't mention what type accident or how many years of experience you have. The severity of some accidents are really tough to get over. Can you give us some more information?

How many miles per week are you averaging?

How long have you been with this company?

How's your on time delivery performance?

How's your relationship with your dispatcher?

Were you OTR?

How did you start your career?

Give us some more information so we can try to help you.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
Jeremy's Comment
member avatar

No responses leads me to believe maybe this wasnt such a small incident i know extensive vehicle or property damage is very bad but personal injury is practically a death sentence as the lawyers are many and the cmv driver has almost no defense so the lawsuits are huge. As it should be i know as a driver i like to think my family is safe out there on the roads but as i see every single night many of my “truck driver brotheren” do not have there heads in the game at all

CMV:

Commercial Motor Vehicle

A CMV is a vehicle that is used as part of a business, is involved in interstate commerce, and may fit any of these descriptions:

  • Weighs 10,001 pounds or more
  • Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
  • Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
  • Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
  • Is transporting hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards
Old School's Comment
member avatar

Yeah, I was hoping Michael would respond. It's highly unusual for a newbie to get fired for a minor accident.

There's a scenario we've often seen where people will go through a private CDL school and then start their driving career at a local driving job. It's usually a precarious start because their insurance providers will refuse to cover the driver after a minor accident. Then the driver gets fired, but nobody will consider them experienced. Their license has grown stale and it just ends up impossible to get hired again.

As I was reading his post, I figured he either had a serious accident as an OTR driver, or he was the victim of that new local driver scenario. That's why I was hoping he'd share with us what actually took place. We could certainly give some advice if we understood the situation better.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Michael S.'s Comment
member avatar

Sorry for the delay in a response, but I've been busy trying to find work any type of work at this point. To answer your questions:

How many miles per week are you averaging? Over the road I was averaging 2500 to 3000 miles a week.

How long have you been with this company? I went from a company I was with for 4.5 years to a local company. I had the accident at the new company during my probationary period.

How's your on time delivery performance? Well before the boss fired me he said I was actually doing really well and out of the 3 of us that were going through the training at the same time he said I was the best one. So I was actually doing really well. I know how to do time management and I apply myself the best that I can. When I left previous employer I was put on the rehire list. I'm still on the rehire list but because of the accident with new employer they now can't bring me back because of insurance purposes. I was told that after a year of the accident they can work with me again and bring me back, but only after a year from the accident. So there is hope there.

How's your relationship with your dispatcher? Was a local company so it really didn't matter what my relationship was with him. I was home daily and typically had 2 off.

Were you OTR? I was for 5 years and then went local

How did you start your career? I started my career in 2013 doing reefer. I've only worked for 3 trucking companies and the 3rd one unfortunately I had an accident with. I went from doing reefer to fuel tanker.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Over The Road:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

Don's Comment
member avatar

What was the nature/severity of your accident? If no one is hiring you, I would assume it wasn't due to a minor fender crumpling.

Sorry for the delay in a response, but I've been busy trying to find work any type of work at this point. To answer your questions:

How many miles per week are you averaging? Over the road I was averaging 2500 to 3000 miles a week.

How long have you been with this company? I went from a company I was with for 4.5 years to a local company. I had the accident at the new company during my probationary period.

How's your on time delivery performance? Well before the boss fired me he said I was actually doing really well and out of the 3 of us that were going through the training at the same time he said I was the best one. So I was actually doing really well. I know how to do time management and I apply myself the best that I can. When I left previous employer I was put on the rehire list. I'm still on the rehire list but because of the accident with new employer they now can't bring me back because of insurance purposes. I was told that after a year of the accident they can work with me again and bring me back, but only after a year from the accident. So there is hope there.

How's your relationship with your dispatcher? Was a local company so it really didn't matter what my relationship was with him. I was home daily and typically had 2 off.

Were you OTR? I was for 5 years and then went local

How did you start your career? I started my career in 2013 doing reefer. I've only worked for 3 trucking companies and the 3rd one unfortunately I had an accident with. I went from doing reefer to fuel tanker.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Over The Road:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

Pete B.'s Comment
member avatar

Apply everywhere. Anyone hiring for a CDL-A position, apply. Search the classifieds, Craigslist, job boards, and if you can go OTR again, look at the ‘second chance companies.’ Just type that into the search bar on this site. Your situation is pretty cut-and-dry; there’s no angle or backdoor maneuver to instantly find a comparable job to replace the one you lost. You’re going to have to take your licks and find anything that will keep your CDL active while accruing that one year of safe driving. Good luck, this isn’t the end of anything, I hope you understand, it’s just a setback.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

  • Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
  • Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
  • Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

Errol V.'s Comment
member avatar

Mike, Pete is right, "apply everywhere".

This link will get your application to everywhere all at once:

Apply For Truck Driving Jobs

Good luck!

Jeremy's Comment
member avatar

Eagle express does alot out of that area dont they?

Michael S.'s Comment
member avatar

Sorry, I did forget to tell you the nature of the accident. It was a rollover and I was cited for it. I was on a narrow 2 lane state highway that didn't allow you for much error if you made a mistake. Well I made a mistake and drifted off the road slightly and it was enough that it just sucked me into the revine and the truck rolled. It could happen to anyone really. Unfortunately it happened to me. Everyone is bound to make a mistake that can hurt their career.

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